Diversion and deferral offer a second chance for youth

By TABITHA CLARK - Daily News Staff

Published: Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 04:35 PM.

The DA said he saw the same person several years later and he had straightened his life out.

“He thanked me. He said once he finished (his probationary sentence), he went and got his GED, went to college, got married and had a baby. He thanked me because (if I hadn’t entered him into deferred prosecution) he would have had a felony conviction on his record.

“Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t,” Lee added. “It really is a second chance.”

Contact Daily News Reporter Tabitha Clark at 910-219-8454 or Tabitha.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @TabithaLClark or friend her on Facebook.

Youth Court allows juveniles to be tried by their peers. There is an adult judge in place, but all other members of the court, including the jury, are teens who volunteer and receive SAT hours for their time.

The program is important to the community because it keeps a lot of cases out of the regular court’s load, Lucas said.

“It allows intake counselors and the courts to focus on the more serious crimes,” she said. “It allows them to focus more of their time, energy and resources on those children.”

When a teen goes to youth court and successfully finishes his or her sentence, that crime will no longer be on their record, Lucas explained.

“They get an opportunity to pay for what they have done, give back for what they’ve done and take ownership of what they’ve done,” she said.

A sentence in Youth Court can include up to 20 hours of community service, mandatory learning seminars and seven jury duties in Youth Court. All Youth Court defendants have to come back to serve on juries for other offenders, Lucas said.

“There is recidivism but it is very low,” she said. “Last year, I served 127 kids, and only two of them reoffended.”

Many of the juveniles instead return to the program after finishing their sentence to volunteer, Lucas said.

Volunteers with the program gain not only SAT hours, but critical thinking and public speaking skills as well. Defendants do not have to accept a referral to Youth Court, Lucas said. They can move on to Juvenile Court, where, if convicted, the crime remains on their juvenile record.

“It really is the kids teaching the kids,” she said. “I help them and guide them, but I also watch them do what they do best.”

Courtney Roe, a senior at Dixon High School, has been volunteering with Youth Court for four years now.

“I definitely think it is effective,” she said. “I’ve seen kids that went through a year or two ago, and now they’re not the same person.”

Roe said Youth Court is a good program because it keeps kids from getting that permanent mark on their record when they’ve only messed up once.

“We’re giving these kids a chance to start fresh, to go to college, to have a brighter future,” she said.

Though 16 and 17 year olds are seen as adults in the eyes of N.C. state law when it comes to criminal activity, according to Onslow County District Attorney Ernie Lee, some of them still can end up in the Youth Court program. While many of them will be sent straight to adult court for misdemeanor crimes, some petitions to Youth Court are still sent from school resource officers, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office and the Jacksonville Police Department. Lucas explained that those petitions must be sent to Youth Court prior to reaching the department of juvenile justice, unless they are petitions for being undisciplined, things like cursing at parents or bad behavior, for example.

“I let 16-17 year olds know how lucky they are that they made it to this program,” Lucas said. “They can send them directly to adult court, and the intake counselors wouldn’t be able to refer them back to me.”

Roe said that volunteering for Youth Court gives teens more insight about that distinct line between ages 15 and 16.

“It drives the point home,” she said. “If you were one year older, you wouldn’t be sitting here (in Youth Court). If you’re only 16 or 17, it’s not a slap on the wrist. You’re going to court, and it is big trouble.”

Another option for 16 and 17 year olds who do move on to the adult court system is deferred prosecution.

Deferred prosecution is a program that allows an individual to come into court and take responsibility for the acts that were committed by entering a plea, Lee said.

“As a result of that, we’re going to try to get restitution for the victims, have the offender do community service, etc,” he said.

Lee said if the offender successfully completes the probationary sentence through deferred prosecution, cases can be dismissed and expunged from the offender’s record.

“It gives someone a way to avoid having a criminal record,” he said.

Deferred prosecution is not offered to everyone.

“We take first-time offenders with relatively less serious offenses,” he said. “Our job is to see that justice is done and make sure the interest of justice is carried out.

“Sometimes I have an individual age 16 or 17, who is treated as an adult by the laws in N.C. Is it right that they should have a felony on their record forever?”

Lee said for deferred prosecution, the DA’s office will primarily look at property crimes and other non-violent offenses where someone can be made whole again by replacing property or paying restitution.

The DA said he’s seen many success stories come out of the program.

“I ran into one individual many years ago, who was charged with breaking and entering into an automobile,” Lee said. “I entered a deferred prosecution, and I had some doubts whether I ought to do it or not, but I did. He was 17 at the time.”

The DA said he saw the same person several years later and he had straightened his life out.

“He thanked me. He said once he finished (his probationary sentence), he went and got his GED, went to college, got married and had a baby. He thanked me because (if I hadn’t entered him into deferred prosecution) he would have had a felony conviction on his record.

“Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t,” Lee added. “It really is a second chance.”

Contact Daily News Reporter Tabitha Clark at 910-219-8454 or Tabitha.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @TabithaLClark or friend her on Facebook.